East of England Ambulance Service chief executive meets local MPs to talk improvements

The chief executive of the region’s ambulance service met with local MPs today to discuss how the trust plans to improve its performance.

The Westminster meetings mark six weeks since Dr Anthony Marsh took over the East of England Ambulance Service.

He said: “It was incredibly beneficial to meet with east of England MPs to hear their views about the service in their area and to assure them that progress and actions are already underway.

“The MPs were very supportive of the trust and the actions we are taking and it is reassuring to know we are all working together to turn this into a high performing ambulance service.”

He added: “My immediate priority is to reduce long ambulance delays. One of the main reasons for the delays is that we don’t have enough paramedics so I’ve launched a programme to recruit 400 student paramedics.

“We’re staggered to have received more than 2,500 applications already – and recruitment is still on-going.

“Turning around this ambulance service is going to take time but the actions we are taking right now will better support our staff to improve services to patients.”

Training courses are also being offered to ‘upskill’ current staff, while an ambulance replacement programme is imminent.